My 1st Short Story

Ten years ago I had ideas that I was working toward being a published writer. But I never really took it seriously. Working on a single short story, "revising" it once every few months, for years, does not count as seriously writing.

Five years ago I heard Greg Rucka speak at Wizard World Chicago. He said some things that hit home - being unbearable when going days without writing (something to which I could relate), and, more importantly, writing every day to a specific word count (i.e. write 500 words/day, or 3000 words/day) and don't stop until you hit the goal. I took that latter piece of advice to heart, and tried to adhere to it.

But it wasn't until about three years ago that I finally got into a groove of writing every day, with a goal of 1000 words/day. Even with a 2-year-old in the house - and my 10 and 14 year olds - a full-time job (except for these past few months) and all the other distractions of life, I've held to my schedule - with some days being taken up with note taking, others with revising and such - and it's paid off with my first published short story.

"A Stone Wall Between Us" was inspired, loosely, by Joe Hill's short "Abraham's Boys" and polished with the help of advice from Joe's father, Stephen King, and his book On Writing. It was also a result of the advice of two other writers I admire.

Steven Grant, a writer best known for his Punisher miniseries with Mike Zeck, who wrote that if one wants to write fiction it would behoove one to take any writing opportunities they are afforded. To that end, I contributed a weekly column for the Pulse, spotlighting small press comics and their creators. One of the creators I interviewed was CJ Hurtt, who is the submissions editor at Dark Recesses right now and offered to accept any horror stories I might have through his email rather than the "slush pile" address. For that, I owe CJ a great debt.

And Neil Gaiman, who said something similar to Greg Rucka above. If one wishes to be a writer, then write.

The last important advice about writing comes back to Greg Rucka. At that same discussion at Wizard World, he said writing isn't what comes out when you first sit down and type. Writing, the really hard work, comes when you revise those first drafts. It's when you cut those parts you really liked the first time you hit the keys with your fingers. Writing is about forming that first bit of clay you get on the page. Writing is about cutting. This was a point also made by Stephen King in On Writing. And it's something that I find myself getting better at every day - because I have been writing and discovering, as I do the work, what is needed to make a good story.

As an example, the first draft of Stone Wall was almost 8000 words long. Once I'd finalized my revisions, I'd managed to get it down to 5000 words, and, in the process, made it far better. The final edits came from suggestions of the publisher - most of which I took, some of which I declined, which was find with him - and they not only improved the final story, but also gave me something else to look for when revising that can only improve my writing going forward.

Anyway. I've gone on too long. Below is the link to Stone Wall. Please click on the link and check it out. I'm quite proud of this, and I think you'll enjoy it. Just don't look for a Hallmark ending :)

A Stone Wall Between Us

Thanks,
chris